Unexpected turns of events
by ACourtOfBooksAndPromises
Summary: The war is over but the Ministry decide to take immediate action to unite the dark and the light. It's soulmate time!
1. An unwelcome letter

The war was over. Finally. The light side had triumphed, and so to avoid Askaban many 'turned', and claimed the imperius curse all along. So, in theory, all was well between the two reconciled sides. In theory that is. In reality, while pretences were kept up around the Ministry and its officials, hostility reigned behind closed doors.

Things might have continued as they were, was it not for a sharp-eyed young intern, Percy Weasley. He came up woth an idea to use the greatest weapon of all, love. It took several weeks, but the potion was finally completed, and letters sent out to all those in the correct age group.

_Dear sir/madame,_

_The ministry of magic are delighted to be able to inform you of perhaps one of their greatest ideas yet._

_The general unrest between light and dark has been brought to our attention, and, as always, we have come up with an ingenious solution, which we are confident you will find more than satisfactory._

_We hope for immediate success and trust that you will do every thing in your power to further this operation. On behalf of the Minister of Magic himself, we hereby announce that you are just a few steps away from finding your **soulmate.**_

_**1\. **Attached are a questionnaire and a quill enchanted with veritaserum. Complete the questionnaire._

_**2\. **Send it off and wait! Your results will come back in under three days!_

_**3\. **Use the portkey attached to travel to a Ministry chosen apartment complex. There you will meet your soulmate and shate an apartment with them._

_**4\. **In several years, when a Ministry Official deems your relationship genuine, you and your partner can move to a more family friendly apartment/house with less surveilance._

_Are you excited? So are we!_

_Written on behalf of the Minister of Magic,_

_**Kingsley Shacklebolt.**_

_Any attempt to avoid or find a loophole in the law will be incarcerated in Askaban **indefinitely.**_

_We look forward to your response!_

_Enjoy your day._


	2. The Questionnaires

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything sadly**

A/N: I tried to make this chapter longer and I'm so sorry that it isn't really :(. Anyway this is them filling in the surveys, but next chapter will be them finding out who their soulmate is. I have a bit of a dilemma though. Should i write them finding out all together or separately? Please Read and Review!

Annaxx 

Everyone was here. The entire Weasley family plus Harry, Hermione, Oliver, Dean and Seamus stared at the letters stacked innocently in a pile on the worn dining table. Scratched and scraped, the table stood in stark contrast to the bright white of the parchment and the harsh brutality of the matt black ink. But the difference ran far deeper than the surface, the table had weathered years of abuse at the hands of the weasleys and their associates but had stood solid, secure and omnipresent, had stood in a house of love and it showed. The parchments were impersonal and baring news that would change the wizarding world and everything it represented. It was unanimous. They prefered the table.

Molly took a shallow breath and gathered her strength.

"Well then." she began "I suppose we better start filling these out" She faked a smile and began to hand them out. The enture company was far too shocked to do anything except mutely grab the questionnaires and quills. It took a bit longer for them to begin, many just staring at the parchment as if waiting for it to burst into flames.

When finally the scratch of quills and the heaviness of the sighs were the only sounds of the room, Molly allowed herself a little sob. Backing into the kitchen she plastered a hand over her mouth so as to muffle her distress. Silent tears run down her cheeks and then, without warning, she's howling. Her children - for she's come to think of everyone in that room as her own - sent off to unknown people, at the will of a ministry official. And she's no longer uncontrollably sad, she's angry. The kind of reckless anger that often haunts the hopeless. She wants to march into the Ministry and give them a piece of her mind. But she is a mother first and foremost, and she will not leave her children. So she wipes her eyes on her apron, and stands tall, grabbing a lemon cake to use as an excuse for her disappearance. She places it in the middle of them, and although no one seems to move, when she turns back from switching on the lamp, all that's left is crumbs. She smiles at her children and their antics, and blinks her eyes to keep the tears that fill them from spilling over.

Meanwhile, the survey's content is making more than a few of them frown in confusion, as it escapes tjem how questions like what is your favourite colour will help contribute to finding their soulmates.

Ron, however is having different problems. He writes the same word, over and over again, only for it to turn red and vanish, the veritaserum in the quill showing its purpose. He eventually gives up and fills in a different word, looking at it hopefully as if waiting for the truth potion to reject it. It stays strong and solid, and his shoulders slump briefly before he continues to the next question, the lemon cake turned sour in his mouth.

When everyone is finished, they fold them up and give them to the owls, staring up at the sky. It stays grey and unforgiving, keeping the secrets of the future locked up tight and leaving those gathered in uncertainty.


	3. An unusual solution

Thank you so much everyone who reviewed!! To be honest I doubted anyone would actually read this and your words are so encouraging!

Thank you so much Outofthisworldgal for being my first reviewer and reviewing twice! It means the world to me - pun intended!

Thank you to the Guest who reviewed, you really lifted my spirits!

To nigelcat1, thank you so much! I'm really enjoying it so far, although i still haven't quite got the hang of everything!!

To megan.whitton2, that's a great idea, and one I will definitely be incorporating into the story later!

And last but not least, thank you to geowynpynn for giving me the idea for this chapter. I had originally planned on going straight into the pairings and reactions, but i think this works much better!

Anna Xx

p.s I've decided most of the pairings

Blaise and Ron

Ginny and Luna

Oliver and Marcus

as well as loads of other minor ones, but I'm having a bit of a crisis with Draco. I ship Drarry **and **Dramione almost equally, and I'm not sure whether to do Draco and Harry, and then Pansy and Hermione, or Draco and Hermione and Harry and someone else (maybe Pansy??).

Please help me out!!

Thanks in advance!!

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Draco threw the parchment across his study in a fit of rage and swore colourfully. Those idiots at the ministry! They couldn't leave him in peace for once in their lives? Or was their only purpose in life to make his completely miserable? It was bad enough with his mother nagging him day and night to 'Find a suitable bride' and 'restore the Malfoy name'. He was done with that. He had been since the love of his life, Astoria Greengrass, broke his heart, stomped all over it and spat on it for good measure, with Theo Nott, his alleged best mate, cheering her on from the sidelines. Yes he was done with love. For six months he had wallowed in his self pity before one day Blaise had snapped, storming into the manor and grabbing him by the collar telling him **he HAD to move on.** Draco had hated him for it at the time, but now realised he owed the boy his life. Along with Pansy they helped him piece his heart back together, and they now ran a succesful company together. They made a tidy sum, but the first few months were rough and racked with the return of his self doubts. But they had pulled through and the trio were now as thick as thieves.

Draco made a split second decision, and flooed to Pansy's family mansion, before realising they were definitely at the london townhouse. He changed tack mid floo and the result was an extremely soot covered malfoy heir who tumbled out of the fire place and into a chair leg, knocking over a potted plant and inhaling half a perfume bottle that had spilled in the process. A slow clap resounded around the room as Blaise Zabini approached the coughing figure sprawled on the ground

"And breaking news, the only Malfoy heir, Draco Malfoy, son of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, Survivor of the Great War, is bested...by a chimney."

"Shut up Zabini" He managed to choke out, before succumbing to a particularly nasty bout of floral scented coughs.

"You know you love me really" Blaise drawled back before increasing his volume "Hey Pansy! Look what the cat brought in." Dainty footsteps approached the doorway, and Pansy strolled in, her black bob swinging. "If that cat has brought in another mouse i am having it put down i swear to merlin - Draco?"

"Pansy! You ruined my joke!" Blaise complained before taking a hasty step back when Pansy narrowed her kohl lined eyes "You know what, you do you, the joke was better your way" He conceded, adding in a whisper behind her back "My way was so much better"

Pansy approached Draco, who by this time had levered himself into a sitting position and had stopped coughing, the occasional hiccup the only remnant his spectacular entrance.

"So you got the letter then" She handed him a glass of water from a side table. He swallowed it all in one gulp and pansy nodded "I'll take that as a yes then."

Blaise came forward and interjected "My bet is that although Shacklebolt's name is signed at the bottom, he was against, but got out voted by the wizengamot, load of pen pushers." Pansy laughed and grabbed a bottle of wine from the side table, popping the cork and raising it in the air

"I'll drink to that!" She chugged half the bottle in one gulp and reached for another

"That's your solution to this? Get wasted and ignore the bigger troubles?" questioned Blaise "I'm in." Pansy grinned and chucked the second bottle at him. "Draco, what about you?" Draco seemed to consider his options, before coming to a conclusion while the other two watched curiously.

"Oh what the hell, my dad's already mad at me and my life's gone down the drain, I've got no hope for the future and not to mention my cholesterol -"

"Shut UP Draco! You're 22 not 75! Loosen up! Have some fun before you're shackled to someone for life!" Pansy sighed, as if they'd had this arguement many, many times before.

"To Pansy's Pep Talks!" Blaise roared, already slightly tipsy.

"To Pansy's Pep Talks! They repeated, with the sincere solemness that only the intoxicated could conjure.

None of the three considered that at that many monent, the Ministry was deciding the very foundation of their destiny, and reshaping their fate until it was irrevocably set on an entirely different path to a happier, albeit **much **more controversial future.


End file.
